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Reviews
Prípad pro zacínajícího kata (1970)
the best
As I wrote in Postava's review. Juracek decided to make more profound statement with this work,not a simple satire. The basic idea is that the time in the communist countries is going backwards. Peope are not granted the most basic rights e.g. the freedom of speech (yes, I know Juracek was allowed to make this film however it was rarely screened and after the year 1970,it was prohibited), because nobody owns anything (communism)people don't care about country and it is simply rotting away. Juracek studied all the civilizations in history who started to decline (Azteks).This was his main idea. (abodened factories, the commercial billboards are displayed as art in museums-Shell). And again as in Postava, nobody is responsible for anything. The people do not want to take responsibility, they rather want to be ruled by a monarch up in the sky.
He linked this with a personal experience of an individual. There is a dream house were you see your childhood, your first love, you are trapped perhaps in your subconsciousness. Many critics say that the film doesn't work all the time. It might be true (not for me though), however, it needs to be said, that Juracek was sick of the standard screenplay with the same dramatic patterns (he wrote many scripts just for money). So the things that some people consider to be flaws, are done on purpose. Everything is written to be open, the characters appear and disappear throughout the film, their episodes are very often not closed. It is his intention.
Postava k podpírání (1963)
the best
I don't want to repeat what was said in the other reviews, some background information: Juracek was very disappointed that he was linked with Kafka all the time. Kafka wasn't his favourite writer, the thing is that everybody who lived in Czechoslovakia during that time (I am talking about he people who didn't like that regime)lived a life that was very similar to the Kafka's novels. You didn't need to read Kafka, Kafka was all around you. Later on, Juracek thought that making fun of regime was too simple (there are many films in 60s who are doing that see Menzel, Nemec) and with his next film A case for a rookie hangman he tried to be more profound. He tried to make something more than a satire. He thought Postava is just a simple satire. He was wrong , the film survived its 20 years of prohibition and young people in C.R are fascinated by this film even after almost 50 years. To foreigners: yeas it is little bit strange that in the 60s the regime let the directors make fun of it, that the regime was in fact financing it. the trouble was, Czechoslovakia wanted to compete with the West. And the best directors were anti-communists. And also the whole country was changing. Even communist party was slightly moving towards more democratic regime. However, after the Soviet occupation, a lot of the directors and writers (the ones who didn't leave the country) paid their price for making these films.
Daleká cesta (1949)
marvelous
What is truly unique about this film? Radok directed it in 1950, right after the WW2. But the directing techniques are incredible for that time. Instead of a simple parody of Hilter as in Chaplin's Dictator, Radok let the words of propaganda speak for themselves. A dull, boring voice of reporter is talking pure propaganda and its much more powerful than the Chaplin's way. There also the techniques of so called brief flashes. We see the propaganda documentary(L.Riefenstahl) and there are brief flashes that ridicule the lies of propaganda.(it reminds me Fight club and the brief flashes of penis). To sum it up, Radok is using directing techniques that started to appear in the 60s. He was way ahead. And also his family died in c.camp so it must have been really painful for him to shoot there. He was a real genius and it's pity that the many film critics don't know anything about Radok and his work.